The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-09-06
SAFE BLOWERS AT WORK
DAVIS BROS SAFE BLOWN OPEN
AND RIFLED.

Goods Purloined-A Heavy Iron Door
Burglars Effected an Entrance-A
Neatly Executed Robbery.
The fancy goods and music house of Davis
Bros, corner of York and Bull streets. was
entered yesterday morning by burglars,
who blew open the safe and robbed it and
some of the show cases. Nothing was known
of the burglary until Z o'clock yesterday
morning, when MeSSrs. Clark Davis, one of
the firm, and j. H. Williams, salesman,
opened the store. They found it full Of
smoke when they entered and at first
thought there must be fire, but the smoke
smeued like burned powder and
before they discovered the wreck
the robbers had made of the strong
box they had reached the conclusion that
the safe had been blown open. The office
was in a terrible plight. The outer plate of
the safe door was lying against the other
safe. ten feet away. The body of the door,
which weighed 200 pounds, was lying upon
the floor three feet from the safe. The clock
was upon the door, having fallen down. The
bookkeeper's desk was broken and turned at
right angles to its former position, and the
was shattered.
HOW THE THIEVES GOT IN.
Mr.. Davis looked in the safe to see what
was missing, and he found everything gone,
even the drawers. He then went over the
store and discovered that some of the show
cases had been rified, all of the gold pens
and pencils, except two, and all the finer
pocket-boobs and other leather goods having
been taken He went to the rear of the
hat Of bn win nypg
had been forced to effect an entrance.
thorough investigation proved that the bur
glars had pried off a board from the door of
the engine room, adjoining the printing
office, and gone into the printing Office
through window. They then attempted
to force the door leading from the
printing office to the store, but it
was double bolted, and only one of the bolts
gave way. They retraced their steps and
broke open window, through which they
entered directly into the store, and pro-
ceeded with their work. They had evil
IDENTIFY made themselves familiar with the
surroundings for although the store was
dark they secured the most valuable part
of the stock. They opened the case that
cont aimed the gold pens and pencils and
took all of them but two. They went to the
shelves where the pocketbooks and card
cases were kept, and took all the fine Rus
sia-leather goods, but left the cheaper ones.
1t is probable that after cleaning cut these
they went to work on the safe.
AWAITING THE EXPLOSION.
There are two safes in the office, a large
one belonging to the Metropolitan Loan
Association and "A small one owned
by Davis Bros. The large safe con-
tanned 5000 in cash, but it was
not touched. Davis Bros safe had
$50 in cash in it, but, Sunday night about 9
o'clock, MIR. Clark Davis took $50 of it out |
The thieves went to work ON the small Safe |
and bored hole in the steel face of the |
door, about three inches below the handle. |
1t is presumed that they then filled the |
cavity in the door in which the bolts and |
lock work with powder, or some other eX- |
plosive, and inserted fuse. Powder was |
also poured into the hinges and, by |
some cracksmanS trick it was made !
to explode at the same time the powder in |
the cavity went off. After igniting the fuse |
they probably left the building and retired |
TO some safe place 30 await the explosion, |
and to see if it would attract any attention. |
1t awakened DIR. Hops and Mr.. Headman, |
both of whom live block away. Both said |
they thought it was a boiler explosion on |
the river, but they went back to sleep, and |
thought no more of it until they heard of |
the robbery in the morning.
ASSERTING THE swAG.
The burglars probably waited until they |
were convinced that no one had been at |
tracted by the noise, and then re-entering |
the store they broke the locks on the safe |
drawers and the money box, and took out |
everything that the safe contained. Feeling |
secure, they stopped in the yard in the rear |
of the store to examine and, perhaps, to di- |
vide the swag They had the $50 of cash |
which had been left there, ana 81 which |
they had taken from the cash drawer The |
papers which the safe contained were about |
$4,000 of notes given by parties who |
had bought pianos and organs on
amount of 5000, and certificates
of stock in loan associations and other enter
prises TO the amount of 50 600 All of these |
papers were thrown in a pile in the yard |
and left there, and Mr.. Davis found them |
when he searched the premises i'll the morn
lug. The gold pens and pencils were valued |
at $3.50, and those goods, together with the |
cash and pocket books, will make the loss in |
the neighborhood of $500, besides the loss of |
the safe, which was completely ruined.
THE ONLY CLUES.
The burglars left behind them about four |
feet of fuse and an ordinary brace, such |
as is used by carpenters. This is doubtless |
the brace with which they drilled the hole |
in the SAFE They left no footprints either |
in the yard or in the building. Besides the |
two articles mentioned above there Is no |
trace ol Une men WHO ulu uHe JOD. Iney |
have gone as silently as they came, and |
there seems at present no prospect of secur- |
ing them.
Two policemen should have been within |
hearing distance of the explosion yesterday !
morning but the burglars were probably !
speeding away ON fast train before any Of
the members OF the force knew anything of
what had happened. One of the Sergeants
was within 100 yards of Davis Bros at go,
g 2:30, 3:l5 and $50 O'Clock, but unfortu-
nately he was not there when the explosion
took place.
rt5rr Jryv SruAnsEr mn por,ru